The Date of Car Sales'winners and Losers Is February 2013

A 10th-consecutive monthly sales record has seen Nissan bump Holden off Australia’s new car sales podium for the first time in modern history.

The burgeoning Japanese manufacturer sold 8212 new vehicles across the country in February, eclipsing homegrown rival Holden by 529 units (7683), which fell to fourth place overall on the back of a 20.7 per cent sales decline.

The stellar month saw Nissan finish just 516 sales behind Australia’s largest full-line importer, second-placed Mazda (8728). The Navara ute continues to be the backbone, finishing fourth for the month with 2645 sales, while an all time monthly record for the Dualis (1549) saw it climb into the top 10 and claim the title of the top-selling SUV in the land.

In its first full month on sale, Nissan sold 1275 Pulsar sedans – a performance that saw it outsell the Ford Focus (1266) and the Volkswagen Golf (1158).

Despite a tight tussle with the Toyota HiLux, the Mazda 3 retained its billing as Australia’s favourite car, stretching its lead with another 3378 sales in February. After the first two months of the year, the compact 3 – with 6723 sales – leads the Corolla (6118) and the HiLux (6066) at the top of the charts.

Strong months from the Mitsubishi Triton (2335) and the Ford Ranger (1739) saw four utes rank inside February’s top seven. Demand for four-wheel-drive utes has exploded 53.2 per cent so far this year, while sales of 4×2 variants have also increased 18.1 per cent.

Holden’s Commodore (1733) and Cruze (1729) duo were the only locally built vehicles inside the top 10, with the Toyota Camry (1459) experiencing another soft month.

The Ford Territory (1316) continues to set a solid pace in 2013, up 12.4 per cent over last year, while the Falcon endured another tough month, recording just 868 sales.

Ford fell to sixth overall for the month – the Fiesta (727) and Focus (1266) failing to repeat their January heroics – missing a top five that was headed by Toyota (16,017) and rounded out by Hyundai (7505).

Mitsubishi (6009 sales, up 16.3 per cent) and Honda (3862 sales, up 48.4 per cent) both enjoyed strong growth in the lower rungs of the top 10.

A total of 90,218 new vehicles were sold across Australia in February, representing an increase of 5.2 per cent over the same month in 2012. While it’s early days, an 8.1 per cent year-to-date growth has the industry on track for yet another record year in 2013.

The Mazda 2 (1538) led the way in the city-car class, holding off the recently launched Mitsubishi Mirage (1154) and the Toyota Yaris (1006).

The new Mazda 6 (747) enjoyed a particularly strong month, trailing the Camry in the medium class while easily accounting for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (381), BMW 3 Series (369) and the Volkswagen Jetta (278).

The Toyota Aurion (370) and Honda Accord (290) ranked third and fourth in the large-car segment, which is down 25.4 per cent this year and now accounts for just 4.2 per cent of the total market.

The Hyundai ix35 (1534) missed the No.1 SUV title by 15 sales, finishing runner-up to the Dualis in the small SUV segment. The Subaru XV (799) completed the podium.

Nissan took the points in the medium SUV segment, too, with the X-Trail (1410) holding off the Mazda CX-5 (1319), Subaru Forester (1312), Honda CR-V (1232) and the Toyota RAV4 (1167).

The Territory controlled the large SUV segment ahead of the Toyota Prado (1238), Toyota Kluger (989) and the Jeep Grand Cherokee (970).